Fireless cooker.



T. PIERSON. PIRBLESS GOOKER. APPLIoATloN FILED PEB. 9, 1909.

Patented Feb. 7, 1911.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

"IHERON PIERSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNORTO EVA PIERSON, OFCHICAGO,

. ILLINOIS.

FIRELESS COOKER.

Patented Feb. '7, 1911.

Serial No. 476.897.

To all whom t mail concern:

Be it known that I, THERON PIERsoN, a citizen of theUnited States, and aresident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fireless Cookers, ofwhich the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

My invention is concerned with an improved fireless cooker, a name givento cooking utensils which Vare especially constructed to insulate aninternal chamber or chambers therein from the external cold or heat, sothat partially cooked food, raised to a cooking heat, will retain itsheat long enough to complete .the cooking, thus saving on the fuelconsumed, and which can also be employed to keep cooked vituals hot orfrozen or chilled vituals cold, for a long time, and is designed toproduce a device of the class described, which shall be extremelyefficient, and which can be properly con-- structed to secure greatdurability under the trying conditions of use in which these devices areemployed.

rIo this engi, my improved fireless cooker embodies certain novelcombinations and features of construction which will be described indetail in the body of the specification and particularly pointed out inthe claims),

'Io'.j illustrate my invention I annexhereto a sheet of drawings, inwhich the same ref erence characters are used to designate identicalparts in all the figures, of which,-

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a cooker embodying my invention, with aportion thereof in central vertical section,'and with other portionsbroken away to show the construction; Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of aportion as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side elevation .showin twocookers, like that of Fig. 1, mounte on a common base but otherwiseseparated, so that one portion could be used for cooking while the otheris used for refrigeration; and Fig. 4 is a top pian View of theconstruction shown in Fig. 3.

While I may constructmy cooker of any desired shape in horizontal crosssection, such as circular, triangularsquare, rectangular, etc., toaccommodate any desired arrangement or shape of the cooking vesselsemployed, I preferably make it circular in horizontal cross section, asshown in Fig. 1.

I preferably connect the side walls withl the top, so that by liftingoff the top portion from the base, the cooking utensils are leftsubstantially entirely exposed so that they can be taken holdof at anypart thereof conveniently, and so that they can be placed Aone aboveanother, which cannot be so readily gone if the side walls are attachedto the ase. v

I construct the base 10 of a diskof some suitable heat insulatingmaterial, such as wood, prepared fiber, or any other desired substance,and around the edge of the base 10 I provide a rim 11,'which is, ofcourse, adjacent the edge of the base and conforms to the generaloutline thereof, bein of course an annulus where the cooker is circularin horizontal cross section.

AAs indicated-in Fig. 1, this rim 11 is preferably built up of segmentalpieces 12,\which are overlapped so as to break joints in the4 mannershown andare glued or otherwise rigidly secured together in any desiredmanner. The top of this rim is provided with the convex bearing surface13, and as the condensed steam from thel cooking would tend to get intothe joint between the rim 11 and the base 10, I preferably line the baseand the ri m, by providing the metal lining strip 14 which is preferablyof zinc, and has the inwardly turned flange 15 at its top and theinwardly turned flange 16 atits bottom, the top fiange 15 turning overthe corner and extending to the convex curved surface 13 and the flange16. turning .'over the bottom edge and extending into a recess 17 formedin the wood, and into the hook 18 formed by an inwardly turned flange onthe sheet metal disk 19 secured on the top of the base. By means of thescrews 2() passed through the base into the rim 11 and the arrangementshown of the flanges 16 and `18, the metal strip 14 and the disk 19 aresecurely fastened in position. 1

` The' disk 19 is preferably provided with the upwardly extended bead 21which serves to center the lower cooking utensil 22 therein. I preferablprovide this utensil22 with a cover 23, w ich is preferably corrugatedfor strength, and is provided with the upwardly extended bead 24 `whichserves as a guide and holder for centering the second utensil '25adapted tobe placed on top of the first The outer side ofthe rim 11 isprovided with a covering strip. 27, similar to the strip 14, as will bereadily apparent. The cover is preferably made of the two parallel sheet-metal cylinders 28 and 29, which are prefsome suitable material 32,such as asbestos,

wire 45 in a manner whlch is customaryto cork or any other well knownheat insulating material. The cover is l1kew1se provided with the rim33, which is constructed of some material, such aswood, similar to therim 11, and like it is preferably made up of overlapped segmentalportions 34 which are permanently secured' together.

v The lower or bearing surface of the rim 33 has the concavity 35 whichis covered by the convex strip 36 of rubber, or some similar elasticwater-proof material, arranged so as to leave an air space 37 betweenthe rim 33 and the cushion strip 36. The object of thisstrip 37 with theair space is to form an elastic air tight cushion between the cover andthe base which will yieldunder the weight of the cover so as to make aperfectly-air tight and; heat insulating joint betweenthe two arts ofthe cooker. To

hold the strip 361m place, I preferably em-v ploy a layer or stripv 38of some suitable flexible covering aterial, such as oil cloth, which, inturn, is` eld on the rim 33 by the strip 39 on` its outer side havingthe inturned flanges like those of thestrip 27,l and on its,

inner side by the inwardly extended bead 40 of the wall 29 and theinwardly projecting flange 41 constituting the bottom edge of the wall29.

It will be seen thatnthe bead 40 andthe flange 41 not onlyjserve tosecure the layer A38 in place but also to position the rim 33 and-holdit in place. The ositioning of the rim 33 is also aided by t e bead 42in the outer wall 28, and the rim 33is preferably finally secured to thewall 28 by aplu-l rality of screws`g43 extendin through the wall 28,metallic strip 39 an layer 38 intoy the rim 33. The wall 28 ispreferably provided with the extension 44 reachin below the jointand'co'nveniently reinforce by the sheet metal vessels. V

The cover may be provided with handles 46p, and with lugs 47, with whichthe fastening links 48, secured to the base l10,v coperate to secure thecover to the base.

In Figs. 3 and 4 Ihave shown an elongated base member provided with tworims adapted to receive two separate covers, so that the two insulatedspaces are entirely separate, so that one might be used for cooking,while the other is simultaneously used for refrigeration if desired.While I have shown and described my invention'as embodied in the formwhich I consider best adapted to carry out its purposes, it will beunderstood that it is capable of some modifications, and that I do notdesire to be limited inthe interpretation of the following claims exceptas may be neces` sitated by the state of the prior art.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is,-

1. In a fireless cooker, the combination with a heat insulating basemember provided with an engaging surface, of a heat insulating covermember having a complementary engaging surface, one of said surfacesbeing convex and the other concave, and av yielding cushion between saidsurfaces composed of a strip of air tight flexible material having. itsouter face convex and secured to the aforesaid concave surface to form aheat insulating air cushion between the two surfaces, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a ireless cooker, the combination with a heat insulating basemember provided with an engaging surface, of a heat insulating covermember having a complementary engaging surface, one of said surfacesbeing convex and the other concave, and a yielding cushion between saidsurfaces composed of a strip of rubber having its outer face con- -vexand secured to the aforesaid concave surface to form a heat insulatingair cushion between the two surfaces, substantially as described. i

3. In a tireless cooker, the combination with a heat insulating baseprovided with a rim having a convex engaging surface, of a heatinsulating cover provided .with a rim having a concave engaging surfacecomplementary to the surface on the base rim, and a yielding cushionbetween said surfaces Vcomposed of a strip of air tight flexiblematerial having its outer face convex and secured to the aforesaid'concave surface to form a heat insulating air cushion between the twosurfaces, substantially as described.

4. In a ireless cooker, the combination outer face convex and secured tothe aforesaid concave surface to formy a heat insulating air cushionbetween the two surfaces, substantiall 'as described. Y

5. A fire ess cooker comprising two concentric metallic walls, and amember of turned beads and the in'ner wall havingva-n inturned flangetor positioning and securing said member, substantially as described.

7. A tireless cooker comprising two-concentric metallic walls, and a-member of 'rigid insulating material connecting the edges ot saidVwalls, said member having a concave surface, astrip ot air tight exiblematerial having its outer falce convex over said concave surface, alayer of covering material over` the flexible material and the sides otthe member, and means for securing said Amember and the layer betweenthe walls, substantially as described.

. 8. A tireless cooker comprising two consa-id. walls, said memberhavingthe concave Surface, a strip. of air tight flexible materialhaving its outer tace convexover sald concave surface, and a layer ofcovering material overv the exible material and the sides oit'y themember,y said walls having the in. 'turned beads and the innerwallhaving an rial, and .screws connecting the outer wall and the memberof the insulating material,

substantially as described. l

.9. A. tireless cooker comprising two concentric metallic walls, amember y,of rigid inthe edges of sulating material connectin said walls,said member havmg the conca-ve the edges of surface, a strip of airtight flexible material having its outer face convex over said con. cavesurface, a layer of covering material over the flexible material and thesides of the member, a metallic strip with an inturned flange betweenthe outer wall and the insulating member, said walls having the inturnedbeads and the inner wall having an inturned flangeA for positioning andsecuring said insulating member andthe layer ot' covering material,andscrews passing through the outer wall,` the metallic strip and layerof covering material into the insu. latingmember, substantially asdescribed.

l0. A tireless cooker comprising a base of heat insulating materialhaving an upward projecting rim resting thereon, a metallic 'stripcovering the inner wall of the rim, and

having its\lower edge turned into a recess in the rim and a metalliccovering sheet for thetop ot the base having the hooked'edge extendinginto the recessand engaged by the inturned edge of the strip to lock themetal parts in place, substantiallyl as described.v centric metallicWalls, a member of rigid in- 'sulating material connectin 11. A tirelesscooker comprising a base of heat insulating material havingan upwardprojecting rim resting thereon, a metallic strip covering the innerlWall of the rim,l and having its lower edge turned into arec'ess iiithe rim and a metallic covering sheet for the top of the base having thehooked edgeextending intothe recess and engaged by the inturned. edge ofthe strip to lock the metal. parts in place and formed with the positioning rib thereon, substantially as described.

, n witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed myseah'this 29th day `of January, A. D. 1909.

THERON PIERSON. Witnesses: l JOHN HOWARD MCELROY, KR. J JAGKER.

